Challenger 30 year anniversary

Itssoeasy

This for anyone interested in space and those who aren't as it's a huge moment of the 20th century.I think the fact that people saw it live makes it the one most people remember more so than columbia in 2003.
Well may all the crew R.I.P and there deaths weren't in vain.


Crew members
Francis R. Scobee, Commander
Michael J. Smith, Pilot
Ronald McNair, Mission Specialist
Ellison Onizuka, Mission Specialist
Judith Resnik, Mission Specialist
Gregory Jarvis, Payload Specialist
Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist
The most famous image of the disaster

Wibbs

I remember watching it live and remember it well. And remember the confused "eh what just happened?" feeling more than anything. Then realisation, then I recall a glimmer of hope when a parachute was seen soon after. Turned out to be rescue guys. Then much later I remember the feelings when it came out that three out of four of the supplementary O2 bottles in the crew cabin had been activated after the explosion and they were alive until the intact crew cabin hit the ocean a couple of minutes later. My only hope is that they went unconscious quickly and that's why the fourth O2 bottle remained shut.

Not a good time of the year for NASA. The Columbia accident was the 1st of February. The first NASA loss back in 1967 was on the 27th of January, the Apollo 1 fire where three astronauts lost their lives.



From left, Gus Grissom (Commander), Ed White (Command Pilot), Roger Chaffee (Pilot)

During a "plugs out" test simulated countdown and launch of the Block 1 first series Apollo Command Module, an electrical short occurred deep in the wiring and in the 16 psi pure oxygen environment when everything including aluminium will burn, the three astronauts lost their lives. It seems mercifully due to smoke inhalation rather than burning.

The plugs out test was basically a full shakedown of electrical systems and launch practices without the rocket being fuelled. It was considered "routine" and didn't have a hazard warning attached. The above atmospheric pressure pure O2 was the hazard. That and a hatch that opened inward and required tools to open. With the 2 psi pressure difference the crew had no hope opening it and the guys on the tower were repeatedly beaten back by the smoke and flames themselves(and some were badly burned).



It changed how NASA did things and although Apollo was grounded for many months it likely sped up the programme and certainly made it far safer. The Command Module was redesigned from the ground up and a new hatch was fitted and at launch at sea level the O2 was mixed with nitrogen that was reduced as the craft headed into orbit.

Here's an original Launch team's procedure manual for the test itself on that very day.

(personal collection)
Very sobering to read through. The pages up to T - 10 minutes are slightly more yellowed than the pages that follow. T - 10 was when they held the countdown because of comms issues, the fire broke out a few minutes later. They never made it to the simulated mission.

It seems NASA too often waits until a tragedy to rethink its practices.

Itssoeasy

Wasn't that hatch design on apollo 1 as a result of grissom's hatch during his mercury flight opening and the spacecraft flooding and sinking ?

Wibbs

That's been given as a reason alright. However just because they removed the explosive bolts arrangement of the Mercury capsule, didn't mean they needed to make it an overly complex opening inward hatch that might require external assistance to open(it definitely required that when pressurised above atmospheric pressure). The block 2 redesign hatch opened outward and without explosive bolts. The Apollo 1 hatch was a bit of an oddball one off. The only time that design was fitted I believe.

_Tombstone_

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a18616/an-oral-history-of-the-space-shuttle-challenger-disaster/

Wibbs

Great stories in that link. It always haunted me that when the photos of the shocked reactions of the family and friends watching the explosion the crew were still alive.

Outside of Star Wars fantasy space flight is bloody dangerous and anytime agencies push it as "routine" it's only a matter of a short time before disaster. There were a number of terrible disasters with the early Soviet missions, but they had the "advantage" of being able to airbrush the bad stuff out. NASA had and has different public pressures and the need to keep the public engaged, even entertained, so that the government keeps funding them. No bucks, no Buck Rogers. That has led to shortcuts that gave us Apollo 1, very nearly Apollo 13, the Challenger and the Columbia losses.

_Tombstone_

Wibbs wrote: »

Not a good time of the year for NASA. The Columbia accident was the 1st of February. The first NASA loss back in 1967 was on the 27th of January, the Apollo 1 fire where three astronauts lost their lives.

The Tragedy Of Apollo 1 And The Lessons That Brought Us To The Moon

Ghost Train

https://twitter.com/Astro_Wheels/status/695276849312743424

Itssoeasy

It’s 35 years ago today that the challenger disaster happened. Yesterday was the 54th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire. Next Monday is the 18th anniversary of the Columbia break up during reentry.

AMKC

Very sad that all these accidents happened but the Astronauts knew the risk and as long as something was learned from it and we remember them then there sacrifice was not in vain. The one I feel most sorry for was the teacher.
Was it possible that some of the astranauts on the shuttle were still alive after it blew up?
I never knew that. Always assumed it was fully destroyed in the explosion.

Itssoeasy

AMKC wrote: »

Very sad that all these accidents happened but the Astronauts knew the risk and as long as something was learned from it and we remember them then there sacrifice was not in vain. The one I feel most sorry for was the teacher.
Was it possible that some of the astranauts on the shuttle were still alive after it blew up?
I never knew that. Always assumed it was fully destroyed in the explosion.

On challenger it seems yes they were. It’s been confirmed that’s the switches on the back of the extra oxygen packs which were activated from behind were switched on at some point after the orbiter blew up and before it slammed into the water. The orbiter was destroyed by the crew cabin wasn’t breached.

Also, there is a switch(I can’t remember which ones) that were flipped when the crew cabin was found and those switches couldn’t have been flipped by the impact with the water. So yes it’s very likely all seven survived the break up but I think it’s at least four may have been aware given what I said above.

Well, NASA did learn from Apollo 1 and the success of the Apollo missions after show that their deaths weren’t in vain.

Yes, a shuttle never launched in temperatures as cold as challenger but from Columbia they didn’t change their style of management.

Edit: and AMKC the crew cabin of challenger from the picture from my OP is one of the trails below the SRB on the right. The middle is the external tank collapsing/breaking up and the orbiter breaking up and the SRBS are the two separate plums above that.

Itssoeasy

36 years ago today the challenger accident occurred. Yesterday was the 55th anniversary of the Apollo 1 fire. And next Tuesday February 1st will be the 19th anniversary of the Columbia break up during re entry.

Beeker

Always a sad week for Space followers. Apollo 1 happened just before I was born but I very clearly remember Challenger and Columbia.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118553583#Comment_118553583

I wasn’t born until 1985 so Columbia is the one I remember while I was just a year old for challenger. The two worst mission control calls in NASA history IMO are “challenger go at throttle up..” and “Columbia, UHF comm check..”,and I think Miles O Brien did a superb job on CNN explaining the Columbia breadkup.

JupiterKid

I was 10 years of age when the Challenger disaster happened, I had a book on the Space Shuttle, loved watching TV shows about space exploration etc.

I remember coming home from primary school and seeing the awful news on the TV - might have been John Craven's Newsround. The looks on the faces of the class of Christa McAuliffe's pupils (around my age at the time) as the disaster unfolded in the skies above Florida was heartbreaking.

The Columbia disaster in 2003 was very avoidable and was also caused by NASA shortcuts. There had been numerous warnings about tiles falling off at launch on earlier missions but the ULA contractors were under pressure by NASA to keep costs down. IIRC Columbia always had problems with its ceramic heat resistant tiles, going right back to its maiden voyage in 1981.

Although the Russians/Soviets had a lot of early tragedies/disasters, their workhorse Proton rocket/Soyuz system has turned out to be much safer than the NASA Space Shuttle. The Space Shuttle, whilst cool and beautiful to look at during launch, was actually a very dangerous launch vehicle as it has no proper launch escape system for the astronauts, unlike the Apollo modules on the huge Saturn V rockets. A very retrograde step that probably cost the lives of the Challenger astronauts.

And as Wibbs opined, spaceflight is still pretty dangerous.

Ger Roe

The ultimate sacrifices made by the people named in the above anniversaries, have led to the many advances in manned spaceflight that have been made since. The space station being continually occupied for over twenty years now, Elon Musk launching and returning rockets with pinpoint accuracy, Jeff Bezos going to the space borderline and bringing Captain Kirk with him, Richard Branson also breaking new ground. While I have mixed feelings about billionaires selling tickets to space, I think of it as the first flight of The Wright Brothers... modest achievements that will lead to much bigger and better things in the not too distant future.

I still go out to have a look whenever the space station passes overhead, or when a rocket ascent is visible from here ... how could anyone miss an opportunity to watch a spacecraft fly by? I often wonder why my neighbours aren't out looking up also. My biggest space thrill was seeing one of the last shuttle flights pass over Ireland when the boosters were falling away behind as it was heading onward... an amazing sight to see from a back garden in Wicklow. Would any of the early space pioneer dreamers have imagined that it would become a near normal experience to see such things?

We are living in the early days of what will soon be very exciting times - having seen the Apollo programme from start to finish, I can't wait for someone to go back to the moon and then on to Mars... some of what was science fiction is now fact and the development pace has picked up considerably in the past two decades. One of my favourite trivia questions is ... What is the only planet we know of, that is inhabited entirely by robots? Answer : Mars... and we put them all there.

The people who gave their lives to try, have played their part in what others have subsequently done, and there is more to do.

Itssoeasy

Even though I was only 1 when challenger happened I knew about it and then Columbia happened just as I turned 18 and while I used to watch all the launches these two disasters take the shine off the shuttle for me. It looked like a spacecraft by committee and way too many things that could go wrong and did.

@JupiterKid yes there were tiles missing on Columbia after the maiden flight but they weren’t in areas that were as critical as on the wings. I’ll have to check and maybe it wasn’t the tiles but I remember john young who was the commander of STS 1 saying if he’d known about something while in orbit he’d wouldn’t have re entered as planned.It was foam falling off at launch that damaged the left wing of Columbia and yes, NASA did inform the crew but said it wasn’t an issue.

Itssoeasy

38 years ago today.

Beeker

I remember both very well. I was 17 when Challenger happened. I was listening to the launch on "Voice of America" on a shortwave radio. by the time of Columbia I was watching on NASA TV on the internet. Both days are still stuck in my memory.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121987038#Comment_121987038

I remember Columbia well. Miles o Brien on CNN who was/is still very knowledgeable about space flight and that stuff, seemed to twik that something wasn’t right early. In the years since as I’ve read more about the shuttle(and every other manned space flight) There’s a few phrases that are remembered in manned space flight, and “lock the doors” is one you know isn’t good.

I’ve found local Florida TV coverage from the Columbia flight and while Miles O brien figured out something was seriously wrong, he tried to not alarm people. The Florida reporter’s tone changed drastically when it got to the time the shuttle was meant to land, and there was no shuttle.

thegame983

Good TV movie about the aftermath

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2421662/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_3_tt_7_nm_1_q_challenger